The invention relates to a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography with a light source having a wavelength less than 200 nm and a bandwidth less than 0.3 pm, preferably less than 0.2 pm and with an exclusively refractive projection objective made of a single lens material.
European patent publication 1 037 267 discloses a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography used for transferring a mask pattern onto a substrate such as a semiconductor device. The dimensions of structures which can be generated on the substrate are limited by dispersion in the optical system of the projection exposure apparatus. In using light for illumination having a bandwidth xcex94xcex which is comparatively narrow, the effects of dispersion can be minimized. European patent publication 1 037 267 teaches that the maximum tolerable bandwidth xcex94xcex of the light for illumination is proportional to L/NA2, with L being the inter object-image distance and NA denoting the numerical aperture. It is suggested to use F2-lasers or YAG lasers as light sources for illumination providing illumination light having a wavelength shorter than 193 nm and 157 nm, respectively. As an example, in European patent publication 1 037 267, an exclusively spherical projection objective is described which consists of 27 lenses with NA=0.6, L=1000 mm, magnification xcex2=xe2x88x920.25, infinite focal length and maximum image height Y=13.2 mm.
Lithography by means of 157 nm lasers is described in T. M. Bloomstein et al, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 15(6), November/December 1997, p. 2112-2116.
This publication suggests that in lithographic systems using laser illumination light at xcex=157 nm, exclusively refractive projection objectives could consist of lenses made of a single lens material. For lithography however the bandwidth of the laser light should be narrowed as known for lasers providing laser light at xcex=193 nm.
In xe2x80x9cClearing the Hurdles in the 157 nm Racexe2x80x9d, Phil Ware, Canon Submicron Focus, Summer 2000, p. 17, several projection objectives for xcex=157 nm are described. For such refractive single material projection objectives, a narrowing of the bandwidth to within a range of 0.1 to 0.2 pm is deemed necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,243,206 discloses an illuminating system for ultraviolet microlithography at 157 nm wavelength. This system has refractive optical elements made of fluoride material and includes both a microlens array functioning as an element for increasing the light conductance value and a honeycomb condenser.
It is well known how to narrow the bandwidth of present day lasers at xcex=193 nm and xcex=157 nm. However, the narrower the bandwidth of the laser light, the greater the loss in efficiency of the corresponding laser and the higher the production costs of such an apparatus.
In pure quartz glass objectives for xcex=248 nm and achromatic objectives for xcex=193 nm, numerical apertures of 0.7 to 0.9 are state of the art.
In the field of microlithography, enhanced resolution can only be achieved by reducing the wavelength and only if a high image side numerical aperture in the order of magnitude of 0.7 to 0.9 is maintained.
The object of the present invention is to provide a projection exposure apparatus as described hereinafter which allows for a gain in resolution while affording the advantages of illumination at a reduced wavelength.
This object is achieved by a projection exposure apparatus for microlithography which includes a light source having a wavelength of less than 200 nm and a bandwidth of less than 0.3 pm, preferably less than 0.25 pm, and greater than 0.1 pm; and, an exclusively refractive projection objective made of a single lens material. The projection objective has: a maximum image height in the range of 12 mm up to 25 mm; an image side numerical aperture in the range of 0.75 to 0.95; and, a monochromatic correction of the wavefront to rms less than 15‰ of the wavelength of the light source.
The parameters of the optics of such a projection apparatus allow for the imaging quality achieved at higher wavelengths or in achromatic 193 nm projection exposure apparatuses.
The large image field as represented by the image height allows for a high throughput and for correspondence to the exposure field of other machines operating under less demanding structural requirements. Only with such a high numerical aperture is it possible to achieve a gain in resolution using light of wavelength xcex=157 nm for illumination compared to light for illumination at wavelength xcex193 nm. The resolution which can be achieved is proportional to the ratio of the wavelength xcex of the illumination light and the image side numerical aperture NA, that is xcex/NA. For xcex=193 nm and NA=0.9, this ratio is 193 nm/0.9=214 nm, for xcex=157 nm and NA=0.6, the ratio is 157 nm/0.6=261 nm, which is remarkably greater, and for xcex=157 nm and NA=0.75, the ratio is 157 nm/0.75=209 nm, which corresponds approximately to the ratio at xcex=193 nm. This means that for the range of the numerical aperture of 0.75 to 0.95, a gain in resolution is possible by using illumination light having wavelength xcex=157 nm as compared to illumination light having wavelength xcex=193 nm. Because of the high numerical aperture, the quality of imaging is increased as compared to state of the art systems especially at xcex=193 nm.
The high quality correction of the projection objective to a monochromatic image plane wavefront error of rms less than 15‰ ensures that, all over the image field, use can be made of the high resolution, which is achieved because of the small wavelength and the high aperture. Furthermore, this allows for form-correct undistorted imaging all over the image plane. For comparison, in the field of optics, a system having an image error, the magnitude of which corresponds to the ratio of the wavelength and the image side numerical aperture, is usually considered to be limited by diffraction. It should be noted that this error is up to five hundred times greater than with the projection exposure apparatus of the present invention.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention there is an illumination system providing for an increase of the geometrical light flux, that means an increase of the etendue. Preferably also homogenization and variable illumination aperture are provided. The projection illumination apparatus may provide for an annular aperture, a quadrupolar illumination as well as a variable coherence length. Such projection exposure apparatus allows for the best structure-related resolution. Without such an illumination system, a projection exposure apparatus at 157 nm or 193 nm does not provide advantages for many types of structures with respect to conventional projection exposure apparatuses.
In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is at least one lens in the projection objective having an aspherical surface. Lenses with an aspherical lens surface allow a reduction of the path length which the light has to travel through the optical elements of an objective. This reduces not only absorption and hence dissipation of energy in the lens material but also allows less lens material to be used and reduces the number of lenses required in a projection objective. This is of interest in view of the extraordinarily high costs of the lens material, in particular the costs of CaF2. Furthermore, these aspherical surfaces allow for a relatively small number of lenses or refractive surfaces such that also reflection losses and thus production costs are reduced.
Preferably fluorides are used as lens material. Such material is particularly apt for illumination with light at wavelength xcex=157 nm. Preferably, CaF2 may be used but lenses could also be made of BaF2 or LiF2. In a preferred embodiment, single crystalline fluorides are used as optical elements in the projection exposure apparatus which are chosen for having highest transparency in the wavelength range of the illumination light which is used. Besides fluorides, also quartz glass could be used as a lens material, in particular at wavelength xcex=193 nm. At lower wavelengths also fluoride-doped quartz glass could also be used.
Preferably the chromatic longitudinal aberration is chosen to be less than 5‰ of the wavelength of the light of the light source so the order of magnitude of the chromatic error does not exceed the order of the monochromatic error. Then the chromatic error is not significantly detrimental to the resolution of the projection exposure apparatus. For a given dispersion of the lens material, this is achieved by reducing the bandwidth of the light source and by optimizing the bandwidth of the projection objective.